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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

UK Covid: masks likely to remain compulsory in Scotland in shops and on public transport after measures lift — as it happened

Afternoon summary

  • Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has signalled that face masks are likely to remain compulsory on public transport and in shops in Scotland after other restrictions are lifted in August. (See 1.14pm.) At a news conference she said:

It’s important I think to remind all of us that a move to level zero does not mean the immediate end of all restrictions.

Many of the baseline measures like face coverings, physical distancing, hand hygiene and advising on ventilation, these are going to continue to be important mitigations to protect us and others from the virus for some time yet.

  • Paul Givan, Northern Ireland’s first minister, has signalled that all Covid restrictions in his region are likely to end in August. These are from Jayne McCormack and Enda McClafferty from the BBC.

That’s all from me for today. But our coronavirus coverage continues on our global live blog. It’s here.

Updated

Sir Keir Starmer has been meeting political leaders in Belfast today.

After their meeting, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, said he told Starmer the Northern Ireland protocol undermined the Good Friday agreement. Donaldson said in a statement:

It was Labour prime ministers who oversaw the signing of both the Belfast and St Andrews agreements. Both the principle of consent as well as the interlocking and interdependent nature of the three-stranded approach on which those agreements are based have been fundamentally damaged by the Northern Ireland protocol.

The protocol undermines those foundational agreements and the consensus so necessary for progress. I underscored my commitment to making Northern Ireland work and urged Sir Keir and his team to work with us as we seek to deal with the flawed withdrawal agreement and restore Northern Ireland fully within the UK internal market.

But Michelle O’Neill, the Sinn Féin deputy first minister, told Starmer the UK government had to implement what it agreed in the protocol.

Ministers confirm 'English votes for English laws' process being abandoned

Ministers have confirmed that MPs will be asked to scrap the “English votes for English laws” (Evel) procedure for passing bills in the Commons introduced by David Cameron’s government.

Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, told MPs this morning that the government had decided to get rid of the procedure, and Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, subsequently confirmed that the vote will be hold on Tuesday next week.

Under the Evel procedure, if parts of a bill only apply to England, those parts have to be approved in a vote in which only English MPs can take part before they can become law. But the bill also goes through all its other, normal parliamentary stages, with all MPs voting.

David Cameron announced his plan to bring in Evel in 2014, immediately after the result of the Scottish independence referendum was announced, and the new rules came into effect in January 2016.

Explaining the decision to abandon Evel, Gove told MPs:

The procedure has been suspended since April 2020 and, having reflected on the procedure, the government believes it has not served our parliament well and that removing it would simplify the legislative process.

It’s a fundamental principle that all constituent parts of the United Kingdom should be equally represented in parliament.

The move is part of an attempt to minimise opposition to the union in Scotland. Cameron’s surprise post-referendum announcement infuriated many Scots because it implied that their MPs would no longer be full members of parliament, and some argued that they had been asked to vote to remain in the UK in a false premise.

In the Commons Pete Wishart, the SNP’s spokesman on Commons matters, told Gove this was a “massive defeat” for the Tories who were now having to bury “this appalling, time-wasting mess”.

But later the SNP put out a statement implying this was not a meaningful concession. Stewart Hosie, the party’s Cabinet Office spokesperson, said:

No amount of tinkering around the edges will change the fundamental flaws with the broken Westminster system or protect Scotland from the damaging policies of Tory governments we reject.

The only way to keep Scotland safe from the long-term damage of Tory austerity cuts, Brexit and Westminster power grabs is for Scotland to become an independent country, with the full powers needed to build a strong, fair and equal recovery.

The UK is to table an “alternative solution” to end the dispute with the EU over Brexit checks in Northern Ireland, David Frost has said.

Just days after fears were raised that the UK was trying “dismantle” the Northern Ireland protocol, Lord Frost appears to have adopted a more placatory approach, saying he was not giving the EU an ultimatum but urging everyone to “try” to reach a solution over the summer.

The proposal, to be presented to parliament before recess on 22 July, is “based on equivalence” in food standards which would do away with most of the checks on foods entering NI from GB.

Speaking at an event run by the Policy Exchange thinktank this morning, Frost said:

We’d like to discuss this in in depth; that hasn’t really been possible ... but an alternative solution is on the table, can be discussed and would provide an alternative way forward and this one’s much more consistent with the economic relationship that’s established in the TCA [trade and cooperation agreement].

He warned that if the EU continued to NI border like an external border, such as that with Russia or the US, “then we definitely have problems”.

He said the concessions last week on the chilled meat grace period, guide dogs and second hand cards were welcome but “they’re not really the heart of the problem”.

David Frost
David Frost.
 Photograph: Vickie Flores/EPA

Updated

UK records 33,551 new cases and 35 more deaths

The UK has recorded 33,551 new coronavirus cases, according to the latest update to the government’s Covid dashboard. A week ago today the equivalent figure was 27,989. And the total number of new cases over the past week is up 34.9% on the total for the previous seven days.

And there have been 35 more deaths. Week on week, deaths are up 52.6%.

Covid dashboard
Covid dashboard. Photograph: Gov.UK

Updated

UNHCR expresses 'deep concern' about Patel's plans to change asylum system

The UN’s refugee agency has likened planned UK asylum reforms to an “almost neo-colonial approach” to “shift burden” rather than “share responsibilities” on providing support to refugees.

As PA Media reports, Gillian Triggs, assistant high commissioner for protection at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told a Chatham House briefing today of the organisation’s “deep concern” at some of the proposals.

Triggs was particularly critical of Priti Patel’s plan to remove asylum seekers offshore while their applications are processed. She said the UNHCR was “absolutely dismayed that some of our strongest supporters historically are now playing with this idea of externalising their responsibilities”. She added:

What we are finding is that western, developed and wealthy countries are now not sharing responsibilities but shifting burdens to these poor countries.

Describing Australian policies as having “disastrous consequences”, she said:

To see Denmark and now the United Kingdom looking at the same ideas is a matter of deep concern to UNHCR because we see it as almost a neo-colonial approach.

You pass it off to ... African countries and you wash your hands with it. You might pay a lot of money ... but nonetheless to shift the burden in that way without the safeguards is a problem.

Ruth Davidson, the former Conservative leader in Scotland, has used a column in the Telegraph (paywall) to launch a withering attack on the government’s plans to privatise Channel 4. Here’s an extract

As a Tory, I am lost as to why ministers would want to raffle off an entity that is the living embodiment of so much of the government’s agenda. From Global Britain through levelling up and into Building Back Better, the Channel 4 rules and remit seem tailor-made to deliver on every one of Boris Johnson’s favourite buzzphrases ...

When it comes to value for money, supporting private firms, levelling up, and projecting Britain to the world, I back Margaret Thatcher’s model of a Channel 4 that is owned by the nation and delivers for it, without costing the taxpayer a penny. And so should any Tory government.

Updated

About one in eight people transferred to the test-and-trace system after testing positive for Covid were not reached in the latest week, PA Media reports. PA says:

It is the largest proportion not reached since the end of last year, and comes as the number of people testing positive rose to its highest total for nearly five months.

Some 12.0% of people transferred to test and trace in England in the week ending 30 June were not reached, according to the Department of Health and Social Care.

The figure has not been this high since the week ending 30 December, during the peak of the second wave of coronavirus, when it stood at 12.6%.

Updated

Keir Starmer talking with pupils during a visit to Forge Integrated Primary School in Belfast today.
Keir Starmer talking with pupils during a visit to Forge integrated primary school in Belfast today. Photograph: Getty Images

Updated

Public Health England has published its latest Covid surveillance report (pdf). It covers the week up to Sunday 4 July. Case rates increased “in all age groups, ethnic groups and regions”, it says. Hospitalisations and deaths also increased, but only “slightly”, it says.

Euro 2020 may have contributed to latest rise in Covid cases, researchers say

Covid cases may be rising partly because of men mixing at Euro 2020 events, researchers say.

The latest React study, which is run by Imperial College London and Ipsos Mori and involves surveying thousands of people to monitor Covid infection levels, found that Covid rates increased fourfold in June. It says:

Based on home swab tests taken by over 47,000 people between 24 June and 5 July, around 1 in 170 people had the virus during this period, or 0.59% of the population. This is four times higher than the study’s previous report when 0.15% of people were infected, or 1 in 670, as of 7 June.

But researchers involved in the study also found, for the first time, a notable difference between the number of men and the number of women testing positive. And they have said Euro 2020 may be a factor.

Prof Paul Elliott, director of the React programme from Imperial’s School of Public Health, told Sky News:

We saw the same in Scotland around the Euros and visits to Wembley and matches in Glasgow. Clearly it’s not just going to the match but it’s going to the pub, being in close proximity ...

We have noticed in the current round that the prevalence is higher in men than women - around 0.7% in men and 0.5% in women.

And women have therefore something like a 30% reduced odds of testing positive in our study, once we’ve adjusted for other variables.

Prof Steven Riley, professor of infectious disease dynamics at Imperial, said:

The degree to which men and women are socialising is likely to be responsible. And then because of the timing of that, then it could be that watching football is resulting in men having more social activity than usual.

The report also said infections were highest in London. It said:

Across the country London had the highest rate of infections at 1.08%, up from 0.13%, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber at 0.78%, up from 0.17%. The south-east and south-west had the lowest rates at 0.34% and 0.35% respectively.

Updated

Lack of sick pay for all threatens Covid plan, thinktank warns

Ministers are playing with fire if they remove Covid restrictions in England without providing adequate sick pay to help anyone who tests positive for Covid to self-isolate, the Royal Society of Arts thinktank has said. My colleague Kevin Rawlinson has the story here.

Johnson says changes to isolation rules for contacts of people testing positive 'not too far off'

On a visit to the Bulb energy company in London earlier this morning Boris Johnson urged people frustrated with self-isolation rules to be patient. He said 16 August, when fully vaccinated people will no longer have to isolate if they have been in contact with an infected person was “not too far off”. He said:

I know how frustrated people are about this and I know that people are obviously fed up with Covid restrictions.

But we have to be prudent, we have to be cautious, and one of the ways of restricting the spread of the disease, as you know, is to ask contacts to self-isolate. It’s been going on now for a long time.

What we want to do is just keep going for a little bit longer so that we can get even more vaccinations into people’s arms, give ourselves even more protection.

But as the health secretary has said, we are moving now from self-isolation, from quarantine approach, to test and release approach. The day is not too far off.

Updated

Back in the Commons Sir Edward Leigh (Con) told Boris Johnson that what was happening in Afghanistan was “a catastrophic defeat for the west, a very sad day for tens of thousands of British personnel whose life work may now lie in ruins, an abandonment of all our friends in Afghanistan”.

Johnson said he did not accept that. He said Britain’s record in helping development in the country was “a proud one”.

Updated

Starmer says Johnson's 'dishonesty' about Northern Ireland protocol is putting peace process at risk

Sir Keir Starmer says Boris Johnson has “betrayed” the people of Northern Ireland, claiming the PM had “not been straight about the consequences” of the Northern Ireland protocol.

At the start of a two-day visit to the region, Starmer told PA Media in an interview:

[Johnson] is now pretending [the Northern Ireland protocol] is someone else’s problem, and in Northern Ireland that won’t wash.

There has to be a practical way forward on this, I think there is a practical way forward if the parties are flexible and negotiate, but the most important thing is trust.

There is a positive future here but it does require the British government to properly understand its role, and I think that this prime minister, Boris Johnson, has betrayed the people of Northern Ireland by not properly honouring that [the UK government being an honest broker], and the word that has been used in pretty well every meeting I have had here in Northern Ireland is a lack of trust in the prime minister as an honest broker. That is a massive missing piece.

Starmer has also accused Johnson of being dishonest about the protocol. In an article in the Times (paywall) today he explains:

After insisting he would never place barriers down the Irish Sea, Johnson negotiated just that. Now, after a year spent denying what he had done, he has started trying to renege on parts of his own deal. He personally negotiated the Northern Ireland protocol; he has a personal responsibility to make it work.

Keir Starmer outside the Police Service of Northern Ireland HQ in Belfast today.
Keir Starmer outside the Police Service of Northern Ireland HQ in Belfast today. Photograph: Peter Morrison/PA

Updated

In her evidence to the Commons public accounts committee this morning (see 11.27am), Dr Jenny Harries, head of the UK Health Security Agency, also confirmed that some people are choosing not to use the NHS Covid app anymore because they are worried about being told to isolate.

Asked if people were deleting the app, she replied: “I am aware that people are choosing not to use the app.”

But she said that the app had resulted in 500,000 cases of the disease being detected and that it was important that people continued to use it. She went on:

We are a seeing rise in cases so this is not an inconvenience, it’s actually to alert people to the fact that they have been in close contact and that they may be at risk of being infected themselves and passing that infection on to other people.

Back in the Commons Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative chair of the Commons defence committee, and Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, both called for an inquiry into the war in Afghanistan. But Boris Johnson said he did not think another Chilcot-style inquiry was needed, especially since the main decision to withdraw was taken in 2014, he argued.

He said Ellwood’s committee could conduct its own inquiry.

Johnson also rejected a suggestion from Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, that what was happening now was similar to the US withdrawal from Vietnam. Duncan Smith said:

As one veteran said to me literally 48 hours ago, this begins to look a little bit like the last days of Vietnam - an unprecedented and hurried exit with no commitment. Are we committed?

Johnson insisted that Britain remained committed to helping Afghanistan.

Updated

Sturgeon says masks likely to remain compulsory in Scotland on public transport and in shops after other restrictions lifted

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has said wearing masks is likely to remain compulsory on public transport and in shops in Scotland after 9 August, when other restrictions are due to be lifted. As the i’s Chris Green reports, at her Covid briefing she also said the surge in cases in the country was levelling off.

Updated

Back in the Commons Tom Tugendhat, a former soldier and the Conservative chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, suggested that Britain was leaving Afghanistan too soon. He said:

If persistence isn’t persistent, if endurance doesn’t endure, how can people trust us as an ally, how can people look at us as a friend.

He said this reminded him of Germany in 1950. Britain could have walked away. But it didn’t; it decided to stay and help Germany to rebuild.

Updated

At the Downing Street lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokesperson confirmed that the exemption to quarantine for holidaymakers returning from amber list nations will only apply to those who have been vaccinated by the NHS. He said:

It does need to be a vaccine administered through the NHS rollout so you would need to have received your vaccine through the NHS rather than in a different country.

Updated

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, is responding, because Sir Keir Starmer is on a visit to Northern Ireland.

She says her own brother served in the armed forces during this period, so she knows what it is like to say goodbye to someone going on tour and not knowing if they will return. She pays tribute to the bravery and skill of members of the armed forces.

She says all MPs want to see Britain withdraw from Afghanistan. But if the armed forces leave without a plan being in place to protect what they achieved, those sacrifices will have been in vain, she says.

Johnson says the international presence in Afghanistan was never intended to be permanent. But there could never be a perfect moment to withdraw.

Last year the US decided to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, while the Taliban agreed to stop terrorist groups using it as a base to attack the US or its allies.

All British troops are now returning home, he says. He says he will not disclose the timetable, but most troops have already left.

But he says this does not mean the UK is giving up support for Afghanistan. This was always going to be a generational undertaking, he says.

He says the UK is giving Afghanistan more than £100m in developmental assistance this year, and it is contributing £58m to national security.

Updated

Boris Johnson's Commons statement on Afghanistan

Boris Johnson is making a Commons statement now to mark the final withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan.

He recalls how it was a base for al-Qaida.

That is no longer the case, he says.

Immediately after 9/11 no one would have predicted that no further terrorist attacks would be launched from Afghanistan at other countries. But that has been the case, he says.

He says British servicemen and women sought to bring stability to the country. And he pays tribute to the 457 of them who lost their lives.

Under the Taliban virtually no girls went to school in Afghanistan. Now 3.6m of them are in school, he says.

He says the UK wants to preserve these gains.

Under the Taliban women were excluded from government. Now they have a quarter of seats in parliament.

Updated

Johnson claims standards committee report into his Mustique holiday found 'no case to answer'

On a visit to Bulb, an energy company in central London, Boris Johnson was asked about today’s standards committee report about his holiday in Mustique. Johnson claimed he had not seen a report, but he went on: “As I understand it, the committee has found there was no case to answer.”

The committee cleared Johnson of breaching the MPs’ code of conduct, but “no case to answer” is probably an over-generous description of what it said. (See 9.28am and 9.39am)

Senior figures in the airline industry have welcomed Grant Shapps’ announcement, while urging the government to go even further in lifting restrictions on travel.

The British Airways chief executive, Sean Doyle, said:

We’re pleased to see this common sense approach which is already working safely for many other countries, but there is more work to do.

While the quarantine requirement for amber countries is being lifted for fully vaccinated UK travellers, the government needs to quickly extend this to all vaccinated travellers, agree a reciprocal deal with the US, add more countries to the green list and reduce the need for unnecessary, expensive tests.

Johan Lundgren, the easyJet chief executive, said:

We have always said that vaccination is the key to unlocking travel and now millions will finally be able to reunite with family and loved ones abroad or take that long-awaited trip this summer. But with unnecessary testing staying in place, more needs to be done.

The Heathrow CEO, John Holland-Kaye, said;

This is excellent news that will give a much-needed boost to millions of people across Britain looking forward to a more normal summer and reuniting with family and friends abroad.

But the job isn’t done. To really kickstart the UK’s economic recovery, global Britain needs to get trading again.

The UK should open up travel to fully vaccinated people from more countries - particularly our key partners in the US - by the end of July. If the EU can do it, so can the UK.

Updated

Number of people 'pinged' by NHS app up 62% in final week of June, latest figures show

A total of 356,036 alerts were sent to users of the NHS Covid app in England in the week to June 30, telling them they had been in close contact with someone who had tested positive for coronavirus, according to the latest test and trace figures (pdf).

As PA Media reports, this is up from 219,391 the previous week - a jump of 62% - and is the highest weekly figure since data was first published in January.

Updated

Gavin Newlands, the SNP transport spokesperson, says mask wearing is a “no-brainer” for most people. Will it be compulsory on aircraft? And will Shapps continue to wear his mask?

Shapps says the government will still be issuing guidance on wearing masks in closed spaces. He will follow that guidance, he says.

And he says airlines are saying it will be compulsory for their passengers. He says he would comply with that too.

Updated

Shapps warns travellers about possible delays at airports

Theresa May, the former PM, welcomes this move as a step to opening up travel. But she asks if more Border Force staff will be hired to avoid the need for long queues at airports.

Shapps says he has spoken to the Home Office about this.

He says checks will take place upstream. So that could mean checks at airports before people leave on their return to the UK.

But he says it is important to warn people about possible problems.

Shapps is responding to McMahon.

He says more data about other countries will be published.

On India, he says it was put on the red list before the full concern about the Delta variant was recognised.

He says Labour should recognise what a significant step this is.

Jim McMahon, the shadow transport secretary, criticises the government for not publishing data to justify its decision about what country is on what list.

And he calls for a review of the delay in the decision to put India on the red list - allowing the spread of the “Johnson variant”, he says.

He says the government has in effect adopted Labour’s call for the amber list to be scrapped.

He asks if all countries accepting NHS documentation about vaccination will allow unvaccinated children to visit.

And he ends asking if Shapps will commit to continuing to wear his mask on public transport.

Updated

Shapps says there will be no changes to the rules for people returning from red list countries, even if they are fully vaccinated.

And he stresses that amber list countries could be placed on the red list if the Covid situation there deteriorates.

Shapps confirms isolation scrapped for fully vaccinated people returning to England from 19 July

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, is addressing MPs.

He starts by saying he understands how difficult it has been for people who have not been able to travel.

But the government had to protect public health.

Now the government can start returning to normality, he says.

He says we are one of the most vaccinated countries, and we should take advantage of this.

From 19 July people who are fully vaccinated will no longer have to isolate when they return to England from an amber list country, he says.

He says they will still have to take a pre-departure test, and a PCR test before day two of their return. But they will no longer need a PCR test at day eight, he says.

This means the rules for green list and amber list countries will be the same for fully vaccinated people returning to England.

Shapps says an announcement about fully vaccinated non-residents coming to England will be made later.

And he says under-18s (who won’t have had a vaccine) will not have to isolate when returning to England.

Updated

Frost says government to set out plans for changing NI protocol within weeks

Plans to resolve issues surrounding the Northern Ireland Protocol will be detailed in the coming weeks, Brexit minister Lord Frost has said.

As PA Media reports, Frost told an event run by the Policy Exchange thinktank this morning that the government will set out its proposals to MPs before the House of Commons rises for the summer recess on 22 July.

Frost said:

We are confident given everything that we’ve been through the last few years that there are ways of finding a new balance and finding the necessary adjustments.

But obviously all options remain on the table for us.

We’re considering our next steps, we’re discussing with all those with an interest and I can say today that we will set out our approach to parliament in a considered way on these questions before the summer recess.

Health chief confirms test and trace app could be adjusted to make allowance for high vaccination rates

Dr Jenny Harries, head of the UK Health Security Agency, has confirmed that the government may change the way the test and trace app works in order to limit the number of people forced to isolate. (See 9.05am.)

In evidence to the Commons public accounts committee, she was asked about what was being done to address the risk of millions of being people asked to isolate over the summer. She replied:

On the app, we ... actively ... have a piece of work ongoing at the moment, because it’s entirely possible to tune the app to ensure that it’s appropriate to the risk.

When the app came into action ... we know it’s been hugely successful but it’s been utilised in a world where we did not have vaccinations.

So working through what a vaccinated population using app means is something that we are actively doing at the moment.

Harries said even if people were fully vaccinated, they could still become infected, and so she said the isolation rules for contacts of positive cases were “there for a purpose, not for annoyance”.

But she said, as more people were vaccinated and the risk reduced, moving away from isolation was appropriate.

She said the government was also looking specifically at whether isolation rules needed to be adjusted for health and care workers.

Updated

A total of 135,685 people tested positive for Covid in England at least once in the week to 30 June, up 71% on the previous week, according to the latest test and trace figures (pdf). As PA Media reports, this is the highest number since the week to 3 February.

Updated

Labour says standards committee report shows PM has 'flagrant disregard for most basic standards of decency'

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, has said today’s report from the Commons standards committee on Boris Johnson (see 9.28am and 9.39am) shows the PM has “a casual relationship with the truth”. She said:

This whole murky affair shows Boris Johnson has a casual relationship with the truth and a flagrant disregard for the most basic standards of integrity and trustworthiness that we would expect from a prime minister.

The way Johnson handles his personal finances mirrors the way he governs the country - chaos and confusion.

Rayner’s verdict on what this affair says about Johnson’s honesty is more damning than the standard committee’s, but there is some evidence in the report that does help to justify what she is saying.

For example, in her write-up of her investigation, Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, says that Johnson’s solicitors wrote to her implying that Johnson was told he did not need to register his Mustique holiday in the register of members’ interests, but decided to do so “out of an abundance of caution”. In their letter Johnson’s solicitors told Stone:

In January 2020, our client’s office sought advice from the registrar on whether it was necessary to register a benefit in relation to his holiday to Mustique. This is because the benefit relating to a private holiday had no direct connection with his parliamentary or political activities, but arose from his personal relationship with Mr David Ross. The registrar confirmed that the client was required to register the benefit only if it related in some way to his membership of the house or to his parliamentary or political activities. Notwithstanding this confirmation, our client decided, out of an abundance of caution, to register a benefit in order to ensure transparency and compliance with his obligations.

Stone says she checked this with the registrar. The registrar told Stone:

You ask whether I consider that there was a requirement for Mr Johnson to register his visit to Mustique. The answer is yes.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents hospitals and other NHS trusts, has said that there are real risks to the opening up in England due to happen on 19 July. In an interview this morning he said:

We need to be realistic and we need to be open and honest about the fact that there are risks if we relax these restrictions and there will be consequences.

The NHS won’t be able to do everything given the demand pressures it has got and the fact that we have got reduced capacity in terms of both beds and staff numbers.

In a long Twitter thread this morning Hopson explains in detail why, although hospital bosses can see the case for what the government is doing, they are concerned that rising Covid cases, coming at a time when the NHS is already dealing with a huge backlog, and when many staff are away on holiday, are going to put considerable pressure on hospitals. The thread starts here.

And here are some of Hopson’s conclusions.

Sunak hints pension triple lock could be suspended this year

Here are some more lines from Rishi Sunak’s interviews this morning. I have already posted on what he said about the test-and-trace app, and how the way it works might be changed. (See 9.05am.)

  • Sunak, the chancellor, gave his strongest hint so far that the government will temporary suspend the pension triple lock. In their election manifesto the Conservative said they would keep the triple lock, which guarantees that pensions go up every year either in line with inflation, or average earnings, or 2.5% - whichever is highest. But with average earnings now forecast to by perhaps as much as 8%, as a byproduct of the impact of Covid on the jobs market, the Treasury is under pressure to suspend the triple lock for a year. In interviews this morning Sunak said the triple lock was government policy. But he refused to confirm that it would be applied this year. And he added:

Our approach to these things will be driven by fairness - fairness both for pensioners and for taxpayers.

  • He defended the government’s plan to cut the £20 a week uplift to universal credit after September. The increase was introduced during the pandemic, and was always intended to be temporary. It has been extended once already. Ministers have recently said they do not intend to extend it again, and Sunak defended this approach. He said:

I think people understand what’s right for a crisis, and what’s meant to be temporary obviously is different when we get through that.

  • He denied that there was a rift between him and Boris Johnson on spending. Sunak is seen as fiscal conservative, keen to control spending and start bringing down borrowing, but Johnson is seen as an enthusiast for more spending. But Sunak said:

I think the prime minister and I are on exactly the same page. I think it’s wrong to make out there’s some difference between us.

We go through these things together and we have absolutely the same ambitions for the country and the people that we have the privilege to represent.

Rishi Sunak on a visit to a gym in Wolverhampton yesterday.
Rishi Sunak on a visit to a gym in Wolverhampton yesterday. Photograph: WPA/Getty Images

Updated

5.3m people waiting for hospital treatments in England, latest figures show

The number of people in England waiting for routine hospital treatment has risen to a new record high, PA Media reports. PA says:

A total of 5.3 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of May 2021, according to figures from NHS England.

This is the highest number since records began in August 2007.

The number of people having to wait more than 52 weeks to start treatment stood at 336,733 in May 2021 - down from 385,490 in the previous month, but around 13 times the number waiting a year earlier, in May 2020, which was 26,029.

The total number of people admitted for routine treatment in hospitals in England in May 2021 was 242,064 - more than four times the number a year earlier (54,550), although this reflects lower-than-usual figures for May 2020, which were affected by the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A&E attendances at hospitals in England last month were 53% higher than a year ago, NHS England said - although again this is a reflection of lower-than-usual numbers for June 2020, which were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Johnson has 'not shown accountability required of those in public life', says parliament's standards commissioner

Here is an edited version of the conclusions from Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, in her report (pdf) on Boris Johnson and the complaint about what he registered about who paid for his holiday accommodation in Mustique. (See 9.28am.)

Mr Johnson’s holiday took place in December 2019 and January 2020. I would have expected him, before he arrived on the island of Mustique, to find out definitively who was to fund the free accommodation he had been offered, and what arrangements had been made to pay for it. He needed to have this information before he decided whether it was right to accept this benefit, and so that full details could be registered within 28 days ...

It has been unusually difficult to find facts during this lengthy investigation. After an inquiry lasting more than a year, I have not found any reliable documentary that clearly outlines the arrangements for how Mr Johnson’s holiday accommodation was paid. I am therefore not able to reach a view on whether Mr Johnson’s register entry was accurate and complete ...

I have also not been able to establish the basis on which the benefit received by Mr Johnson was valued at £15,000. I have however no reason to dispute that the villa could have been charged out at £15,000 for a last-minute booking for a party of similar size to Mr Johnson’s and in similar circumstances, from 26 December 2019 to 5 January 2020.

Mr Johnson was right to name [David] Ross in his register entry as the person who played a key role in obtaining a villa for Mr Johnson’s use. I accept that Mr Johnson had originally expected that the villa would be owned by Mr Ross. I find it surprising that, when he realised that he was to stay elsewhere, Mr Johnson did not establish the full facts about who was the owner of the villa, how the villa would be funded and the value of the benefit, before accepting the accommodation as a gift. Mr Johnson has told me that he believes the owners received a payment for his use of the accommodation. At another point he told me that Mr Ross arranged to meet the “notional costs” by making his own villa available to the Mustique Company on future dates. He has not explained how these two accounts relate to each other ...

The rules require members to fulfil “conscientiously” the requirement of the House in respect of the registration of interests in the register of members’ financial interests. Because he did not make sufficient inquiries to establish the full facts about the funding arrangements for his free accommodation, either before his holiday, as he should have done, or in 2020, I find that Mr Johnson has not fulfilled conscientiously the house’s requirements for registration. I find that this is a breach of paragraph 14 of the code of conduct. I also find that Mr Johnson has not shown the accountability required of those in public life.

Standards committee says Johnson's lack of candour over Mustique holiday 'regrettable', but clears him of breaching code

The Commons standards committee has published a report (pdf) saying it was “regrettable” that Boris Johnson did not provide full details of who paid for his holiday accommodation in Mustique in December 2019.

The committee publishes its report after an investigation by Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, whose own report is printed as an appendix to the committee.

Stone found that Johnson had broken the code of conduct for MPs because did not “make sufficient inquiries to establish the full facts about the funding arrangements for his free accommodation, either before his holiday, as he should have done, or in 2020”.

But, unusually, the committee did not support this conclusion. That was because follow-up correspondence between the committee and Johnson, and the committee and other, did eventually clarify how Johnson’s accommodation was funded.

In its conclusion the committee said:

It is unsatisfactory that neither [David Ross, the Tory donor who facilitated Johnson’s stay on a villa in Mustique] nor Mr Johnson explained the arrangements to the commissioner until last autumn and that Mr Ross only provided minimal information on the arrangement this spring and in response to our own enquiries. Mr Johnson has stated himself that it is “regrettable that information has been provided to the commissioner in stages”.

This matter could have been concluded many months ago if more strenuous efforts had been made to dispel the uncertainty. Given that Mr Johnson was twice reprimanded by our predecessor committee in the last parliament in the space of four months for “an over-casual attitude towards obeying the rules of the House”, we would have expected him to have gone the extra mile to ensure there was no uncertainty about the arrangements.

And this is what Stone said in her own report.

The rules require members to fulfil “conscientiously” the requirement of the house in respect of the registration of interests in the register of members’ financial interests. Because he did not make sufficient inquiries to establish the full facts about the funding arrangements for his free accommodation, either before his holiday, as he should have done, or in 2020, I find that Mr Johnson has not fulfilled conscientiously the house’s requirements for registration. I find that this is a breach of paragraph 14 of the code of conduct. I also find that Mr Johnson has not shown the accountability required of those in public life.

Updated

Sunak hints at changes to test-and-trace app to limit numbers of people being asked to isolate

Good morning. Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, has been giving interviews this morning and he has hinted that the government may alter the way the test-and-trace app operates in response to concerns that millions of people face being “pinged” and told to self-isolate this summer because they have been near someone testing positive. Sunak told Sky News:

I’ve spoken to the health secretary about this and he’s aware of the frustration that people have around this.

We have two different systems for the test and trace: we have obviously the NHS one, and we also have the app. I know most people’s concerns rest with how the app is working and the health secretary is aware of that.

The app counts for the majority of the people who need to isolate, I understand, on the numbers and he’s looking at what the most appropriate, balanced and proportionate approach to isolation is in these circumstances.

According to Sky’s Tamara Cohen, the Department of Health is looking at changing the sensitivity of the app. That would mean changing its settings to exclude people whose exposure to an infected person has been more limited from getting an isolation alert.

I will post more from Sunak’s interviews shortly.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: NHS England publishes its latest monthly waiting list figures.

10am: Dido Harding, the former head of NHS test and trace, and Dr Jenny Harries, head of the UK Health Security Agency, give evidence to the public accounts committee.

10am: David Frost, the Brexit minister, and Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, speak at a Policy Exchange event.

Around 11.30am: Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, gives a statement to MPs. He is expected to announce that vaccinated people travelling to England from amber list countries will no longer have to quarantine from later this month.

12.15pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, holds a Covid briefing.

Around 12.30pm: Boris Johnson makes a statement to MPs about the final withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan.

2pm: Public Health England publishes its weekly Covid surveillance report.

Also, Sir Keir Starmer is on a visit to Northern Ireland today.

Politics Live has been a mix of Covid and non-Covid news recently and that will probably be the case today. For more coronavirus developments, do follow our global Covid live blog.

I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

Alternatively, you can email me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com

Updated

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